NELSON] "asking" and trading festivals 361 



is accomplished by eacli person making a small image of tlie object he 

 desires and hanging it on the messenger's wand, which is taken into 

 the kashim where all examine the images. Each then takes the image 

 of whatever he wishes to supply, and the messenger tells him from 

 whom it comes and what is desired in return. 



THE TRADING FESTIVAL 



Another celebration, known as the Trading festival and somewhat 

 alHed to tlie preceding, is held at irregular intervals almost every where 

 throughout the region. The following description of its observance at 

 Andreivsky, on the lower Yukon, will serve as an illustration of its 

 character. The fur trader who made the festival was instructed by 

 an old Eskimo and observed all the customary ceremonies. 



Early in the winter the trader sent to several villages in the sur- 

 rounding district a messenger, who was instructed to go to two or three 

 of the best hunters in each place and tell them that the trader thought 

 they had skins of mink, otter, or of other fur-bearing animals, as the 

 case nnght be. The maker of the feast and the two or three men in 

 each village to whom he sent his special invitation were known during 

 the festival as ruis'lcut' or "heads." Each nas'JctiTc' replied to the mes- 

 senger that he thought the trader had powder, lead, or whatever 

 else he most desired. Then the messenger went into the kashim and 

 addressed the young men generally, saying that his nlis'kuk' thought 

 they possessed skins of various kinds. In this way the man went from 

 village to village, learning at the same time the date or time in a cer- 

 tain moon when all could go to the feast. A message of this kind 

 sent to a village is considered as an invitation to the feast to be held 

 at the village of the giver. The messenger having ended his errand, 

 returned, telling the niis'kulc' when the guests would arrive; also 

 what each headman among the invited guests wished from him. The 

 chief niis'JcuJc' then prepared for his guests, gathering food in abun- 

 dance, together with the various articles desired by the people invited. 

 Those who had been invited gathered at a predetermined village and 

 in a body approached the place appointed for the festival. 



In the present feast, as soon as the guests came in sight a messenger 

 went to meet them on the ice of the Yukon. He ran out and stopped 

 just before the guests, so that they might send any message they wished 

 to the feast giver. In this instance an old woman sent word to a little 

 girl in the trader's family that she wished a reindeer skin. When the 

 first messenger came back, two others ran out to meet the guests, cry- 

 ing out as they went, "Are we not strong men? Are we not strong 

 men?" Then, as if in reply, "Yes, we are strong; yes, we are strong; 

 we do not stieal," and much more of the same kind of self glorification. 

 Running up close to the guests, they stopped and stared at them with- 

 out speaking, then turned and ran swiftly back. When they returned, 

 two others ran out in the same way. The last four messengers wore 



